SOPHIE FONTANEL: CLICK!

Sophie Fontanel walks... from here and there to Le Bon Marché. She also writes. Her love for fashion, her love for style is exhilarating, poetic, slightly uncontrollable and can be enjoyed every day on her global Instagram® feed. She explores, tries out and reinvents offbeat beauty and small joys. She has the elegance of the greatest players. Selfie trance and dance, with freedom, at Le Bon Marché. Follow her irresistible look. Understand: #saycheeeeese!

When we asked you to play a millennial, you accepted straight away. What do you like about them?

What I like is the link between the youth of today and me. These kids galvanise me; I love the way they invent themselves. I like their energy. And to thank them for this strength, I give them something in return. I show them (at least I try to!) that getting old is not a downward slope but a run-up. If we don’t want these young people to become disenchanted, we have to show them that the journey is worth it. That all stages of the journey are exciting. I embody that, I think. That’s what people tell me.

Millennials with white hair... That means what...?

I believe that we should, and we can, remain young at heart our whole lives, even when maturity gives you a kind of extreme lucidity.
When I stopped using hair dye, it wasn’t to accept my age – it was to show that there is a youthfulness, a softness, a novelty, even modernity, in this white hair. There are advantages at my age. I feel that there is a new fearlessness as you get older.
I have gained more freedom. It is not true that life puts you in a box. Let’s say that it’s often up to you to get out of it.

You say that you’re obsessed with clothes. What does that mean?

When I don't believe in anything anymore, I still want to be elegant, to have an allure. It’s like a marker. When I was young, I would think to myself that it was worth getting old if that meant becoming more refined, like certain women I saw around me. The truth is, I work in fashion because it’s my vocation. Two colours that go well together give me faith in humanity. And I have understood the beauty of this obsession: to have perfect clothes, you have to buy a lot of them, to have made lots of mistakes and great finds. It’s not a question of money; it can be a t-shirt or second-hand clothes, as well as something expensive. It is the fruit of a hunt. Of a love, in fact.

Do you prefer heels or trainers?

At my age shoes are essential. They have to be comfortable,
I have learnt that walking well helps me to think. But the heels or trainers
(I buy both equally) have to have real style and make
a bit of a statement. I like white ankle boots, for example.
We can make ourselves look younger or gloomy just with a pair of shoes!

You are also a total Le Bon Marché fan. What is your favourite part of the store?

The sheets and lingerie. Luxury starts with what we wear in private. I also love the escalator in the centre; it is like a promise. And of a chicness!

When I was young, I would think to myself that it was worth getting old if that meant becoming more refined, like certain women I saw around me.